Sweet Home’s cross-country season got off to a hot start last week, but unfortunately it was in the literal sense.
With temperatures in the high 90s, the Husky boys finished 14th and the girls 10th at the Marist Invitational at Richardson Park, on the north end of Fern Ridge Reservoir. The field was largely 5A and 6A teams, so Sweet Home’s finish wasn’t necessarily unexpected, particularly because the Huskies were lacking some key runners, Coach Andrew “Keebler” Allen said.
“It could have been a better meet,” he said. “The heat got to several runners. There were heat issues all over the place.”
Runners were splashing water on each other and coaching each other to help each other get through the heat, Allen and various runners reported.
Jakob Hiett was the top finisher for the boys, 36th in 18:06, but it was nowhere near the course-record 16:15 he ran last year in winning the race. The record was re-set by this year’s winner, Sheldon’s Jackson Mestler, who ran 16:12.
Allen said Hiett is still recovering from a stress fracture suffered early in the summer.
“He tried to be up there in the front, but he’s recovering.”
One head-turner for Sweet Home was Elmira’s boys, who finished 11th.
“Elmira ran a great race,” Allen said.
On the girls side, Kayleen Keeney was the top finisher for Sweet Home, running 24:25 to finish 56th, over a minute faster than her time last year over the same course.
Allen said Maria Daniels turned in the biggest improvement, running 28:58, which was more than three minutes faster than her time from last year.
“She was upset about that time, but that was a huge PR for her,” Allen said.
“This team has high expectations. A lot of them are disappointed by that race. We will analyze what they can control and work from there.”
This week the Huskies will run twice, at the Silver Falls Octoberfest Invitational at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10, at Silver Falls State Park, and at the Ash Creek Invitational at Ash Creek Preserve on the campus of Western Oregon State University on Saturday, Sept. 13. Races start at 10 a.m.
Allen said those meets will give the Huskies, particularly new runners, some different experiences, and the Huskies will get a look at league rival Sisters at Ash Creek.
“Silver Falls is a hard course, but Sweet Home typically does better on hard courses,” he said. “We rise to the challenge of hills and obstacles. Ash Creek will have a lot of fast teams from Portland. This (Marist) meet may have looked big to these kids. Ash Creek will have 200 to 250 kids per line. Our kids are getting some great tough competition from some tough teams.”
Marist Invitational at Richardson Park
Boys Team Scores: (1) Jesuit 48; (2) Marist 100; (3) Crater 102; (4) West Salem 123; (5) Sheldon 143; (6) Phoenix 181; (7) Springfield 226; (8) La Salle 227; (9) Ashland 244; (10) Thurston 270; (11) Elmira 286; (12) Gresham 339; (13) North Eugene 344; (14) Sweet Home 366; (15) Churchill 387; (16) St. Mary’s 460; (17) Putnam 481.
Boys Top 5 and Sky-Em League finishers: (1) Jackson Mestler (Sheldon) 16:12; (2) Ahmed Muhumed (West Salem) 16:16; (3) Devin Rodman (Crater) 16:32; (4) Randy Mena (Phoenix) 16:35; (5) Max Hite (Jesuit) 16:36; (27) Gannon Jones (Elmira) 17:37; (31) Ben Douhit (Elmira) 17:52; (36) Jakob Hiett (SH) 18:06; (52) Trey Reed (SH) 18:44; (82) Austin Smith (Elmira) 19:30; (83) Riley Craig (Elmira) 19:31; (93) Issac Justham (SH) 20:16; (94) Shane Orme (Elmira) 20:17; (95) Cody Wolkersdorfer (Elmira) 20:20; (116) Finn King (Elmira) 21:21; (117) Carson Bain (Elmira) 21:22; (126) Julian Hesberg (SH) 22:40; (128) Nick Rietz (SH) 22:46; (131) Nelson Rodgers (SH) 23:04.
JV Finisher – (165) Jake Hindmarsh (SH) 30:31.
Girls Team Scores: (1) Jesuit 52; (2) Sheldon 73; (3) Phoenix 111; (4) St. Mary’s 120; (5) Marist 120; (6) West Salem 153; (7) Crater 158; (8) Churchill 197; (9) Thurston 255; (10) Sweet Home 260; (11) Elmira 297.
Girls Top 5 and Sky-Em League finishers: (1) Marissa Dobry (St. Mary’s) 19:04; (2) Brooke Chuhlantseff (West Salem) 19:04; (3) Gracie Todd (Sheldon) 19:26; (4) Olivia Powell (Marist) 19:37; (5) Nevina DeLuca (Phoenix) 20:00; (44) Morgan Craig (Elmira) 23:30; (56) Kayleen Keeney (SH) 24:25; (68) Bethany Gingerich (SH) 25:16; (71) Sierra Swanson (SH) 25:21; (77) Dana Hiett (SH) 26:03; (85) Myckenzie Moore (Elmira) 26:52; (88) Annalisa Linn (Elmira) 27:18; (94) Miranda Harrison (Elmira) 28:56; (95) Maria Daniels (SH) 28:58; (103) Madeline Curtis (Elmira) 23:31; (104) Brook Moser (Elmira) 32:32.